Spiderman Vs. The Amazing Spiderman

I got around to seeing The Amazing Spiderman yesterday and then came home and before going to bed watched the first Spiderman movie. Since I'm a geek and have both films fresh in my mind I figured I compare the two rather then just doing a Quick Take on the new one.

I have decided to not compare special effects since both have good effects for their times and newer movies obviously have the advantage of better technology. I decided to base the comparison on main actor and actress, villian, music, and story.I won't go into the endings as that would contain spoilers which I hate throwing at people who have not yet seen the films.

Actor

Although he was never bad in the role I didn't really buy Tobey Maguire as Spiderman/Peter Parker. It's not that I don't like him as an actor. He was awesome in Pleasantville. But I just didn't enjoy his "Aw Shucks" demeanor in this role.

On the other hand I felt Andrew Garfield was a perfect choice for Peter Parker which made him the better choice for Spiderman. He displayed the geekiness of Peter while seeming cooler when in the Spiderman costume. You could really see the confidence Peter got when he became Spiderman. 

Winner: The Amazing Spiderman

Actress

I'll start by saying that I am not a fan of Kirsten Dunst. If it wasn't for Halle Berry in Catwoman and Kate Bosworth in Superman Returns she would be the worst Superhero Movie casting ever. I just felt she dragged down any scene she was in for this film.

On the other hand I am a huge fan of Emma Stone. I think she is this generations Julia Roberts. The downside to casting her is that no matter who she plays you still think of her as Emma Stone at this point. While she is a great actress  she never gets you to forget she's Emma Stone. But she didn't drag down ever scene she was in.  

I also felt the chemistry between Emma and Andrew was better then Tobey and Kirsten.

Winner: The Amazing Spiderman

Villain

While both William Defoe and Rhys Ifan are amazing actors and did great jobs in each film WIlliam Defoe wins hands down. The entire movie you know he's the villian and he encompasses the role so well. The confusion in being Green Goblin and letting him take over could be seen in every facial expression. 

The Amazing Spiderman is more of an origin story so the villain, while played well by Ifans, is more of a background player similar to Batman Begins, leaving the more well known villain for the sequel.  In Spiderman Green Goblin is front and center for the majority of the film. 

Winner: Spiderman 

Music 

In the last ten years the need to have a hit soundtrack seems to have died. The Amazing Spiderman focuses more on a having music to play over the story then pushing a hit song by Nickelback. The one song that really plays over the movie is a Coldplay song that while good doesn't really tie into the marketing for the film. For it's time the Spiderman soundtrack was a great album even if you aren't a Nickelback fan (I'm sure everyone is a Nickelback fan in secret. How else to explain their popularity)

Winner: Spiderman

Story

While both films have very similar stories and follow the same path of getting powers, learning powers, falling in love with girl, defeating villain, choosing to not be with girl I liked the slower pace of The Amazing Spiderman. They spent more time on Peter learning his powers which while it made less time for the villain it also made the movie a better origin story. With Spiderman he learns his powers fairly quickly which allows the film to spend more time with him as Spiderman which wasn't the wrong choice as both films have great stories. 

The newer film also left more questions open at the end. Without going into details I liked what they did to keep you interested to in the next film. Movies based on Marvel comics have become notorious for adding extra scenes in the credits to promote the next film and The Amazing Spiderman did not disappoint. 

Winner: The Amazing Spiderman (barely)

While both films are great ways to begin a saga The Amazing Spiderman left open so many doors for sequels. There are also so many characters and storylines that are left to explore because the film choose to devote more time to letting Peter Parker develop the powers before really becoming Spiderman and fighting a major villain. 

I'll never consider Spiderman a bad film (unlike the third sequel) but I felt The Amazing Spiderman was the better of the two films. 

Winner: The Amazing Spiderman